Monday, August 25, 2014

10 Best Plants for the Southwestern Landscape

A few weeks ago, I was asked by one of my editors to come up with a list of the top 10 plants that every resident of the Southwest should consider adding to their landscape.I must admit that the task was a bit daunting at first - not because I couldn't think of enough plants. The problem was that my list was much larger.I had to pare my list down and decided to focus on plants that would grow in zones 7 - 10, which cover much of the desert Southwest. In addition, they had to be low-maintenance, native, beautiful and easy to grow.

After considering all of the criteria, I still had about 20 plants. So, I added one other criteria of my own - how easy is it to find at your local nursery?

At the end, I had 10 plants that I was very happy with - but I could have easily added a lot more ;-)

I hope you enjoy reading through this list of 10 essential plants for the desert Southwest.

*I'd love to hear what plants you would include in your list of 10 favorites.

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Ramblings From a Desert Garden (disclaimer)

The plant tips and guidelines in this blog are primarily geared towards the gardener in the desert southwest. These tips come from a combination of my degree in Horticulture and my years of working as a horticulturist where I managed & designed landscapes in a 9a zone.

One thing I have learned is that there are often exceptions to the rule in regards to plant behavior. Plants are living things and do not always act the way we expect them too. Some plants thrive where they should not, grow larger or smaller, fail to thrive and in general ignoring the published information that says otherwise. So, the advice I give is based on both my experience as well as published material.